Author and photographer Alyscia Cunningham believes that bald women are beautiful. She is hoping to use her photographs to celebrate that fact with a new book: I Am More Than My Hair: Bald and Beautiful Me. To complete her latest social-change photography project, Cunningham is turning to Kickstarter to crowdsource funding.
I Am More Than My Hair: Bald and Beautiful Me features 60 portraits of women and girls who have lost their hair due to medical conditions and autoimmune disorders, as well as women who cut their hair in support of a loved one.
The $15,000 Cunningham is seeking to raise through Kickstarter will fund the production and marketing costs of the book.
She was inspired to begin this project after deciding to cut and donate her hair for the Big Chop to Stop Cancer event in October 2013. “I had been growing my locs for 15 years and I was struck with fear and doubt about how I would look without my hair,” shares Cunningham. “The feedback I received from friends wasn’t very encouraging.”
Having made a commitment, Cunningham cut off her long locs. “After I shaved my head, I kept bumping into women who had lost their hair and I couldn’t imagine what they must have gone through emotionally,” recalls Cunningham.
She notes.”The experience of cutting my hair and random encounters with bald women inspired me to create I Am More Than My Hair: Bald and Beautiful. Photographs have the power to focus the eye, and the heart, on what truly matters.”
Cunningham’s first photography book, Feminine Transitions (http://alyscia.com/feminine_transitions.html), unmasked the natural beauty of aging by presenting a series of portraits that reveal the elegance and subtly honest beauty of female faces between the ages of 7 weeks and 103 years. This latest photography project continues her efforts to challenge negative social forces through capturing the essence of female beauty.
“Through this journey, I’ve witnessed an undeniable radiance in bare-headed females,” explains Cunningham. “They don’t attract attention due to a lack of hair. Instead, their features become more captivating. You can see their raw beauty because there is no hair to distract you.”
To support I Am More Than My Hair: Bald and Beautiful, visit Cunningham’s Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/918246738/i-am-more-than-my-hair-bald-and-beautiful-me). It launches on January 19, 2015. Cunningham is also available for interviews and can be reached at 240-701-4996 or info@Alyscia.com.
Contact
Alyscia Cunningham
301-244-9658
info@Alyscia.com
www.AandCbooks.com
Contact
Alyscia Cunningham
